Wasting no time, we’ve got new music from the likes of 16, BONE DANCE, CLOUD RAT, COP CITY CHILL PILLARS, DADS, FALL OF EFRAFA, FUCKING INVINCIBLE (featuring Lex from DAUGHTERS back on the mic for the first time in years!), JACUZZI BOYS, THE MARKED MEN (quadrupole-cassette mania!), MEEK IS MURDER, MOLOCH, PASSING PHASES (FKA PIZZA and TEENS IN TROUBLE), PIGS, WYQM and more. Beyond that it’s also very worth noting the final round of *new* Hydra Head releases that are likely to come out, which we’re very happy to stock from the likes of JK FLESH / PRUIENT (a perfectly appropriate end-release), JODIS‘ latest LP (which is so damn good we’d actually asked if Robo could release it!), Finnish lords CIRCLE, left-field D-beat mayhem from SPLIT CRANIUM and the excellent MAMIFFER / PYRAMIDS collaboration LP. Rounded out by a new COUGH t-shirt design and that concludes our highlights for the new items. Other bangers within, here’s the full list:

Since we’ve currently got a lot of stuff either at the pressing plant or coming up right quick, if you’re able to pick up a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ it would help us a lot! Hopefully something above there strikes a nerve, but if not we’ve got thousands of other items across most underground/indie genres one can think of.

First update for the new year from Camp Robo and while we’re gearing up for a BUSY year, we’ve got no major label activity this time around. Instead though, we’ve got HEAPS of killer new items and restocks for the Robotic Empire – Online Store!

Busy buds abound, for the new items we’ve got a brand new 7″ EP from ANCIENT SKY (who’s T.R.I.P.S. album was such an in-house favorite last year that we helped release it), the RVA-heathens BASTARD SAPLING finally unleased their debut album after years of preparation (and it shows), BLACK TUSK return with a beaut of new split 7″ with DEAD YET via longtime bros Hyperrealist. BRAINOIL deliver a ruthless 12″, THE CATALYST return with their heaviest and best album yet(!) on color wax, THE CLEAN 2xLPs from the NZ legends via Chaos mainman, Winchester Timmy 540, the final instalment of the unreal Clone comp series 2xLP import, utterly relentless glory from D-CLONE, KOWLOON WALLED CITY‘s latest headspinner, KYLESA catalog vinyl, MUTILATION RITES 12″s aplenty, NOOTHGRUSH(!!!) import vinyl, NORTHLESS back with the pummel, PALLBEARER‘s unreal debut album on double LP, SAMOTHRACE and TITAN heavyness, WINDHAND‘s fantastic doomy debut, a phatty YOB 2xLP and WAY more. GOOD.NESS.

Restocks ain’t nuthin to shake a stick at neither! THE LAST COPIES of the ALCEST 12″ on Hyperrealist, CAPSULE‘s latest on color vinyl, unholy CHRISTIAN MISTRESS filthyness, the COFFINS / SOURVEIN long awaited EP re-up, DARK CASTLE vinyl (which has been hard to keep in stock) and HARKONEN‘s masterwork on appropriate long-player from the rising star Brutal Panda, LITURGY for better or for worse, two essential PYGMY LUSH albums, plus TWEAK BIRD, WHITEHORSE and more more more. Here are the full lists:

We’ll be coming at ya soon with a rad new round of shirts, then some more re-presses, then some re-issues, then some rad new releases, then more of all the same! It’s gonna be a great year as we have way more on deck than last year, so if you’re able to assist and order a lil’ somethin somethin from us, please do know that it makes a noticeable difference and helps us keep the party train rollin!!!

We started the year with a release (TILTS) and now we’ll end the year with one…

SURPRISE: four of Justin K. Broadrick’s incredible sonic personalities within one impressive 12″ EP, simply titled Christmas.JESU lays the foundation with the initial hymn, along with brilliant remixes from related projects PALE SKETCHER and FINAL, plus an exclusive and brand new remix by the oppressive JK FLESH entity.

Originally self-released as a digital-only EP for Xmas 2010, the 35+ minutes of music within have been sonically upgraded by mastering wizard James Plotkin specifically for the two physical formats. Vinyl edition comes on complimentary ice-blue color wax housed in a glorious high-gloss full color jacket, CD edition also comes with high-gloss artwork and has an exclusive lyrics page.

We are expecting these to arrive at RoboHQ within the first week or two of December and plan to rock all the pre-orders right back out the door hopefully just in time for the holidays. If all goes according to plan, folks should be receiving their packages right around Xmas itself.

However, because the entire postal system gets bogged down around the holidays, it is impossible to guarantee things at this time of year… that being said, Priority Mail is recommended for affordable semi-expedited delivery.

This release has been in the pipeline for ages and we’re glad it’s finally (almost) in existence, even if so damn close to the wire. We’re thrilled to work with Justin K. Broadrick again and have plans to announce another JKB release in 2013.

Beyond that, it’s been a wild year with a lot of changes for us but we’re happy to say that some stability is finally on the horizon with new roots being put down (and/or in motion) after long periods of flux.

We keep chugging along with the Robotic Empire – Online Store and want to genuinely thank everyone who’s ordered from us this year, or… ever! We couldn’t keep this operation afloat without the direct support of our mailorder followers, and we really appreciate all of those who’ve stuck with us through the years or just found out about us recently. It’s getting increasingly difficult to run a label like ours in this “landscape” and blah blah blah, the same thing you’ve probably heard a lot of times by now… but at the end of the day, we are a small operation and sincerely appreciate everyone who’s helped.

Enough emo year-end-sentimentality, let’s get to the MUSIC: lots of cool new stuff joins this update, including a rad NEIL YOUNG t-shirt (the same image infamously connected to LYNYRD SKYNYRD), OLD MAN GLOOM‘s appropriately-timed Christmas re-presses, BONGZILLA, PROTESTANT, THE AUSTRASIAN GOAT, and BASTARD NOISE / MAN IS THE BASTARD vinyl, SUTEKH HEXEN‘s new album and collections release on wax, sinister tapes from NIHILL and HALLOWED BUTCHERY and surprisingly/awesomely a fantastic new TAIGA cassette which is Bryant Clifford Meyer’s solo project, our old dawg who is/was in such acts as ISIS, RED SPAROWES, PALMS and more!

On the re-stock tip we’ve got extensive Denovali vinyl imports aplenty, Magic Bullet essential re-ups abound, LSD AND THE SEARCH FOR GOD, more OLD MAN GLOOM on cassette and vinyl, plus some other random jibba jabb. Here are the full lists:

And last but clearly not least, we have picked a winner for our most recent contest: congratulations to Björn Bauer for his incredible and intricate tree drawing that wins our shirt-design-contest. We received some seriously amazing submissions (either for content, skill and/or ability to make us laugh) but Björn’s fantastic image hit the nail on the head. Check out his website for an extensive portfolio and more info on this great artist. Big ups to everyone who took the time and effort to submit something for this, it was a lot of fun going over all the entries, and (with their permission) we may post a few of the “runner up” images as well. We will post a larger version of Björn’s graphic when we announce shirt ordering info in the coming weeks… stay tuned!

BOOM! Great way to end the year. Hope everyone reading this can reflect on all the good things that have happened to them these past 11-12 months and let it percolate and overpower any bad elements of the year. OK OK enough hippy nonsense, don’t trample your fellow man or anything but Robo-capitalist scum still say “go buy our rotatable plastic circles!”

OK dawgz, we’re launching a new contest: we need a BAD ASS new Robotic Empire shirt design, likely for a new hoody to keep yall warm this wintertime.

We’re accepting design submissions and hope to pick a winner on/around Thanksgiving (Nov 22nd), so just two weeks from now!!

Image Criteria: * BAD ASSitude* front artwork only or front/back OK* 3 colors or less preferred, set up for screen printing* robots & man = bad … nature & hippy shit = good!* “robotic empire” may or may not be in there, but it shouldn’t be too big/invasive if it is included* whatever goes, we are open to seeing what you’ve got! an old design revisited, something entirely new… as long as it’s cool we’ll consider it!

Winner Gets:* 5 finished shirts or hoodies or whatever we print for yourself and friends* $75-$100 worth of free stuff from the Robo webstore of your choice!

Bonus:SHARE this joint on your social media page(s), and we’ll pick a lucky winner to get a free copy of the finished shirt/hoody and some other bonus phat swag schwag as a care package! Winner for that will be chosen roughly the same time.

Our last contest was a pretty big hit, but TOTALLY because folks shared it… so please spread the word so we can make a rad new shirt, possibly with you or a friend’s design! BOOYA!

OK folks its getting a little serious here. We’re less than two weeks from concluding the BONE THUGS-N-HARMONYkickstarter campaign with quite a ways to go financially. If we want to see this thing happen (and obviously we do), a lot of pre-orders need to come through with the quickness!

The general reaction to the announcement of this seemed to be confusion overall, but let it be known that this project is genuine and awesome. The “For Smokers Only” collection not only rules from a logistical standpoint, but musically its also excellent!

Most of the 12 tracks found on the album are from “prime era” BONE THUGS and the quality shows. We’re doing our best to make this thing happen, but without some real pledges and word-of-mouth, we’ll be both high AND dry in two weeks time.

Please consider this an “elaborate pre-order” that you won’t get charged for until the full goal amount is reached.

Speaking of elaborate, we’ve done some major contemplation on what our first-ever slipmat printing should be like… and in an attempt to go MEGA we’re gonna try to pull of an faux-animated “zoetrope” type slipmat. Essentially, something like this, but obviously a lot stonier.

Beyond that we’ve got a lot of cool stuff in the “DIE HARD” deluxe vinyl edition as well as standard LP and CD options for folks looking for something a little simpler.

It is with great amazement that we announce a recently-launched Kickstarter campaign in hopes of releasing a genuine BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY weed-tribute album on both CD and LP. This is obviously a unique release to come into our path, and we feel fully obligated to try making this a reality!

There have been none before or after that accurately compare to the exclusive quality and talent that is BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY, and to unleash this heady collection is a privilege we won’t soon forget. Renown globally with over 30 million(!) albums sold worldwide, BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY are true groundbreakers with their unique combination of heartfelt melody and street realism. A variety of vocal speeds and skills are mixed with infectious beats, resulting in unparalleled rap in both substance and style.

(CD artwork, subject to change)Comprised of a magnificent crop of tracks from across BONE THUGS and members impressive catalogs of recordings, “For Smokers Only” is an incredible 12-track homage to their favorite medicinal herb. This “For Smokers Only” collection has never been available before on CD or LP, previously released earlier this year solely as a digital-download, and some of the material featured here will be made available in the physical format for the very first time! The songs found here are a dozen high quality nuggets representing BONE THUGS‘ fondness for imbibing in an age-old ritual that many of us also know and love. The full track list is as follows:

We’re doing this Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising enough funds to start manufacturing CDs plus both the standard edition vinyl-LP and deluxe DIE HARD edition LP of “For Smokers Only”, plus hopefully cover some licensing and legal fees, and basically just work with one of the most amazing hip hop bands on the planet!

This is a special opportunity to own BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY material on vinyl, as most of their albums that’ve been pressed on wax are now long out of print. In combination with the vinyl, a high-quality DIGITAL DOWNLOAD of “For Smokers Only” will be included with every LP ordered.

HERE IS WHAT WE PLAN ON MAKING:

* The CD will be packaged in a jewel case with full-color artwork.

* The standard vinyl LP will come on your choice of black or green vinyl packaged in a color jacket, and includes a high quality digital-download of the full album.

Important Note: THIS RELEASE WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE IN NORTH AMERICA OUTSIDE OF THE LIMITED AMOUNT OF COPIES IMPORTED VIA THIS KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN!!

Because this release is being manufactured and distributed in Europe, pledge prices have been calculated to include the “import shipping” costs for USA orderers. People in other countries can order as well, please just see the “International Shipping” price section of the FAQ found within the Kickstarter campaign, as shipping for this release is a little different (and cheaper) than how we normally do things.

We’ve come up with a variety of different pledge options including super simple postage-paid CDs and LPs, wholesale options, the deluxe DIE HARD edition, a limited TEST PRESS option, plus an elaborate and crazy “VIP MEGABONE” $420 pledge option! Please see the Kickstarter campaign page for all of the details on everything we’re offering here.

This is running for one month and we’re basically aiming to treat it as an “elaborate pre-order”. Although this is the most we’ve asked for to date, after two previous successful Kickstarter campaigns under our belt we’re hoping this one will be a success as well.

That being said, the other campaigns definitely wouldn’t have gone as well without kind people helping us spread the word. Seriously, a post on Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter/your blog/whatever actually helps a surprising amount, and we’re totally down to hook up some bonus swag schwag at the end of this crazy thing if you wanna help us spread the word a bit. Just let us know at the end of the campaign if you posted something and we’re happy to juice it up.

An audio medley with a handful of clips from the album can be heard here:

YEA-UH! That pretty much sums it up! This is easily one of the most exciting and wildest things Robotic Empire has attempted in our nearly 14-year history. We’ve talked about truly breaking out of our “comfort zone” genres for years, and what better way to do it than with a freakin BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY release?! Nobody (even us) was expecting this, so PLEASE help us make this thing a hit by spreading the word if ya can.

BONE BONE BONE BONE BONE BONE….

So obviously that is the biggest news for us in a while, but far from all we’ve been up to lately. Besides working on prepping the BONE THUGS project for kind of a while, we’ve been busy stocking lots of AWESOME new tunes for the Robotic Empire – Online Store.

Top on the list this time is the stunning FALSE / BARGHEST split LP, which our partner label Mirror Universe was kind of the catalyst for. A co-release with longtime brethren Gilead Media, this is one of the most blistering and relentless albums we’ve been involved with to date. Seriously incredible sophomore material from each band following two fantastic debut albums on Gilead last year, we are extremely stoked to have this in house and ready to rock. Dr. Broadcloak himself’s timely OCD has proven itself glorious once again with an incredible package with fantastic artwork, a large poster insert and appropriately heavyweight vinyl. Fans of the heavy: DO NOT sleep on this one!

Beyond that we’ve stocked STACKS of new records that’ve been piling up here for a while now… about 40 new items and nearly 30 restocks as well! Basically too much to really highlight it all but we’d like to at least note new jawns from ALTAR OF PLAGUES, ANCIENT SKY, BACCHUS, THE BODY, BRAINOIL, CLOUD RAT, DARK CASTLE, EYEHATEGOD, GHOSTLIMB, GHOUL, GAYS & QUEERS, GRAF ORLOCK, IRON REAGAN, MUNICIPAL WASTE(!), THE OBSESSED, PLANKS, VADAR, VOLTURE and YEAR OF NO LIGHT. Damn!

On the restock tip we’re pimpin wares from ANNIHILATION TIME, AUSSITOT MORT, CANNABIS CORPSE, DOLCIM, EARTHLESS, GIANTS, KYUSS (yeaaahhh), LA QUIETE, NEUROSIS, PHOBIA, PIZZA, RAEIN, ROSETTA, TITAN and FINALLY the restock of TORCHE‘s latest album “Harmonicraft” which we absolutely blew out the first time around.

That pretty much sums up one of the biggest updates we’ve ever had. Thanks to anyone who managed to read this manuscript, you are a trooper and a true dawg! Please check out the Kickstarter if you get a chance…. PEACE!

Hi everyone! We’ve already announced, in our previous posting, the info on the FALSE / BARGHEST Split 12″ but now we are making the pre-orders available in the Online Store!

We also have a pretty stacked distro update that includes a GODFLESH Test Press!!, loads of Bridge 9 stock, the long unavailable FURNACE Doublewalker 12″, along with too many other things to highlight.

Pre-orders are up now on the Robotic Empire – Online Store. We expect to receive the records around the 2nd to 3rd week of August and will begin shipping orders out ASAP once they arrive.

We’re chugging along through the surge of BARONESS orders, and wanted to let folks know that we’re dashing boxes outta here as quickly as possible. Thanks again to everyone who’s ordered, and for those still patiently awaiting the arrival of this beast as we keep crankin out orders!

That being said, the ol’ purp vinyl is getting low again so heads up: grab it while we got it!